UNDER ANDY FARRELL, Ireland have developed a new tradition whereby the families of players who are being named for their first Test caps come into the team camp a couple of days before the big game.
The family members are invited into the team room, sit down with the players, and then hear a speech about their son or brother before one of the senior squad members presents the new cap’s match jersey. The families are invited to the post-match dinner too.
This stuff is important to Farrell for a couple of reasons. Firstly, he gets it as a proud father.
His eldest son, Owen, will win his 100th England cap this weekend and Andy understandably showed some emotion while talking about that achievement yesterday after naming his own Ireland team to face the Wallabies on Saturday.
“It’s pretty special for parents,” said Farrell. “When you’re watching your son playing his 100th game or his first game as a parent, that’s even more daunting and even more proud and even more nervous. We are as parents, as a family, bursting with pride with what he’s achieved.”
So Farrell wants the parents of Jimmy O’Brien and Jack Crowley and Cian Prendergast and everyone else to be part of it all.
“I think it’s even more so important for the families to be involved because they’re the ones who have seen all the sacrifice and been through it all with them,” said Farrell.
There’s another layer to this. Farrell wants his Ireland squad to feel like a true family and these traditions make it so.
“It’s tough for the lads who are giving the jerseys,” he explained. “That’s tough because these lads are used to getting up and speaking in front of their team-mates, etc. but when they know what it means to the families that are sat there, it’s a tough one.
“But the connection that person has, whoever it is, who hands over the jersey, when he has time to think about what it means to his team-mate and to the families, it brings you that little bit closer together.”
Farrell’s players have bought into it wholeheartedly. Those who might be sometimes perceived as cranky from the outside, like captain Johnny Sexton, are at the heart of the emotional stuff in camp.
“He epitomises it all. The lads that you would think are the crankiest are the ones who think nights like tonight or last week are extra special.”
Farrell has been around high-performance environments since his teens. He made his rugby league debut for Wigan at the age of 16 when he was also working as an apprentice joiner. His Great Britain debut came when he was still just 18.
He never looked back as he went on to have a huge playing career in league and union before moving into coaching. Now, at the age of 47, that lifetime of lessons goes into creating the right culture in the Ireland set-up.
“I would certainly class myself as a feel-type coach,” is how Farrell put it.
“I’ve been around before and you don’t know where it’s come from. You’ve probably been there and seen that before and felt how you’d probably manage it a little bit differently next time, even if it’s subconscious.
“So I think that definitely shapes you, having those experiences, 100%.”
Plenty of the focus around Farrell’s Ireland team has deservedly been on their tactical approach, the brilliance of their attacking play, and the individuals who have thrived in his on-pitch systems.
But the man himself spends as much time thinking about how the environment ticks, how to encourage players to be themselves, and how to get the very best performances from people.
“Being yourself and knowing how it is on the other side is pretty important because I try not to be perfect,” said Farrell.
“I’m far from perfect and the people you’re teaching aren’t A1 students either. They’re rugby people and they want to get better and want to learn, so you just try to give them the environment to try to do that.”
The former England assistant has been nominated for the World Rugby coach of the year award and has a good shot of claiming it on Sunday night in Monaco, particularly if his Ireland team beat the Wallabies tomorrow.
But it will come as no surprise that Farrell deflects when he’s asked about the nomination.
“It’s quite embarrassing really, in regards to… you’ve heard me say plenty of times that we do this together,” he said.
“When a coach gets any recognition, never mind the coaching staff that are top class in our group, the rest of the staff, the team and how everyone pulls together, we do it together. I’d 100% take it as a team recognition.”
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